Our School Board has Created a Mess | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Most people in Beaufort County do not know it, but the Beaufort County Board of Education has created a huge mess with the way it deals with personnel. And that is continuing a record of abuse of professional educators going back to the Easter Transfers. The board ended up having to pay the teachers to settle a law suit from that debacle. But they are still at it.

    At their April meeting we saw yet another glaring example of the arrogant abuse of power by this school board, particularly the chairman. Here's what happened.

    The Board moved to go into secret session "to consider confidential personnel information." That's fine. The problem is that they refused to make available to the public at the time the personnel list they had been furnished that was going to be considered. That is a violation of the Open Meetings law.

    Then they came back out in "open session" and voted "by reference" on the personnel list which they still had not disclosed as required by law. But the vote did not go as the chairman intended, so he called a "recess." The vote failed because it did not receive a majority. It was pretty obvious that the purpose of the recess was to get the votes lined up the way he wanted them to be. But it was quickly pointed out that what they should do is go back into closed session. They then came back out and voted "by reference" (which is illegal) in a split vote to renew a contract. The correct procedure would have been to vote to "reconsider the previous action" but they did not do that. As can be seen in the video, there is no way to determine who they were voting on.

    So we requested to know the names of the people and the positions. The school system has yet to provide that information.

    We would suggest that the action was illegal and therefore null and void. If they do not correct it we would suggest the superintendent and Finance Officer will violate the law if any money is disbursed to pay someone who does not have a valid contract. And we would even suggest that if the board later seeks to penalize the employee in any manner that such action will be illegal. Moreover, we would suggest that individual board members who participated in these obviously illegal votes are personally liable. What a mess.

    But there is another angle to this mess that is even more egregious than the board's persistent violation of the Open Meetings Law. It is the fact that they had a split vote on the renewal of a principal's contract. You can watch this circus in the video in our earlier report by clicking here.

    State law in North Carolina clearly provides that the employment of a principal (or teacher for that matter) is a two step process. The second step is the board's vote. But the first step is just as important. It is that the superintendent must recommend the contract. No board has the legal authority to employ a principal, teacher or central office certified person except upon the recommendation of the superintendent. Thus, what the board is actually voting on when it votes on certified personnel (classified personnel are arguably in a different legal category) is whether or not to approve the superintendent's recommendation.

    To some this may seem like a fine point to put on the issue. But it is not. In fact, it is so important that most really good superintendents insist that it be stipulated in their contract that they have the right to select principals, central office certified personnel and some even include teachers; subject to approval by the board. If the board votes not to approve, the superintendent then recommends another person. But best practices say that the board never substitutes its selection for that of the superintendent's. Our school board simply does not understand this.

    So what was really wrong on April 26 (see video above) was when ANY board member voted against the superintendent's recommendation. That should not happen.

    When I was offered my first superintendent's contract I insisted on the clause mentioned above being added. (Unfortunately, Dr. Phipps did not. His contract does not contain that provision.) But I also told the board that if the board ever voted against approving a recommendation for a principal or central office position that they should understand that they were in fact voting to tell me to find another job. And the same applied to the assignment of principals and top central office personnel.

    The reason this is so important is that it is impossible to legitimately hold the superintendent accountable for running the school system if he/she cannot select their top leadership. That's just common sense. If any board usurps that responsibility it abolishes its ability to hold the superintendent accountable and thus assumes the responsibility itself. And then you have the mess that our School Board has created in Beaufort County. Is it any wonder our School Board spends so much money on lawyers?

    The School Board has every right to hire and fire its superintendent, in accord with law and his/her contract. But it does not have the right to take the responsibility away from him of selecting his leadership team and then expect him to do the job. There should be no "split" votes on these recommendations.

    There is an election coming up in November. This should be a key issue and the voters should begin to straighten this mess out...at the ballot box. If it doesn't the lawyers will have to do so and the taxpayers will pay that bill.

    Delma Blinson writes the "Teacher's Desk" column for our friend in the local publishing business: The Beaufort Observer. His concentration is in the area of his expertise - the education of our youth. He is a former teacher, principal, superintendent and university professor.